The Great Ziegfeld 1936 review

After watching "The Great Ziegfeld," I gotta say, I'm feeling all kinds of emotions. This 1936 musical biopic is a real visual feast, but it left me with a bit of a bittersweet aftertaste.

ight off the bat, the movie pulls you into this glittering era. Ziegfeld, man, what a legend! His story should've been a real page-turner, you know? But here's the thing - the film seems more interested in showing off those jaw-dropping stage performances he put together than digging into who the guy really was. I found myself sitting there, realizing I still didn't have a clue about the real Ziegfeld.

But let's be real for a second - those musical numbers? They're out of this world! Especially that hour-long extravaganza - it's like eye candy on steroids. The lights, the costumes, the choreography - every single element is a work of art. Watching it, I felt like I'd been zapped back to a 1930s Broadway show, getting a front-row seat to Ziegfeld's glory days. That kind of scale and opulence? You'd be hard-pressed to find anything like it on stage today.

Now, William Powell as Ziegfeld? I hate to say it, but I was kinda let down. Something was missing - maybe that larger-than-life charisma that supposedly had everyone eating out of his hand. But Louise Rainer as Anna Held? She's an absolute darling! That gentle, playful vibe she's got going on - it just melts your heart. Every time she popped up on screen, I couldn't help but smile.

After sitting through the whole thing, here's my takeaway: as a musical, it's pretty much flawless. But as a biopic? It falls short. It got me thinking - sometimes, does all that glitz and glamour end up hiding the real depth underneath? It's like Ziegfeld's life itself - all sparkly on the outside, but we barely scratch the surface of his inner struggles and growth.

Even so, I found myself totally drawn into this vibrant, creative era the movie portrays. That go-for-broke pursuit of dreams, that dedication to beauty and art - it's still precious, even by today's standards. After the credits rolled, I had this sudden urge to go catch a live show, to feel that stage magic firsthand.

"The Great Ziegfeld" might not be a perfect movie, but it sure as hell transports you to a dazzling world. It gets you thinking about art, dreams, and what life's all about. Maybe that's the magic of classic films - even after all these years, they still have the power to stir something in us.

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